The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World

by Karl Schlögel, Rodney Livingstone (Translator)

An encyclopedic and richly detailed history of everyday life in the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union is gone, but its ghostly traces remain, not least in the material vestiges left behind in its turbulent wake. What was it really like to live in the USSR? What did it look, feel, smell, and sound like? In The Soviet Century , Karl Schlögel, one of the world’s leading historians of the Soviet Union, presents a spellbinding epic that brings to life the everyday world of a unique lost civilization.

A museum of―and travel guide to―the Soviet past, The Soviet Century explores in evocative detail both the largest and smallest aspects of life in the USSR, from the Gulag, the planned economy, the railway system, and the steel city of Magnitogorsk to cookbooks, military medals, prison camp tattoos, and the ubiquitous perfume Red Moscow. The book examines iconic aspects of Soviet life, including long queues outside shops, cramped communal apartments, parades, and the Lenin mausoleum, as well as less famous but important parts of the USSR, including the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the voice of Radio Moscow, graffiti, and even the typical toilet, which became a pervasive social and cultural topic. Throughout, the book shows how Soviet life simultaneously combined utopian fantasies, humdrum routine, and a pervasive terror symbolized by the Lubyanka, then as now the headquarters of the secret police.

Drawing on Schlögel’s decades of travel in the Soviet and post-Soviet world, and featuring more than eighty illustrations, The Soviet Century is vivid, immediate, and grounded in firsthand encounters with the places and objects it describes. The result is an unforgettable account of the Soviet Century.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Soviet Union, Soviet History, Politics, European History

928 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Karl Schlögel (born 7 March 1948 in Hawangen, Bavaria, Germany) is a noted German historian of Eastern Europe who specialises in modern Russia, the history of Stalinism, the Russian diaspora and dissident movements, Eastern European cultural history and theoretical problems of historical narration.

Reviews

[Ollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soviet Russia is my jam. I’ve been reading about it for over ten years and am totally captivated by the politics and impact it had around the world. And the period spanning the revolution to Stalin’s death? Don’t even get me started on that. That’s the sweetest plum.

But I often forget that the richness of Russian culture doesn’t end when Khrushchev took over, and especially now that Soviet Russia is dead (in a way) and its archives are open (in a way), it’s the perfect opportunity for a skilled historian to offer some perspective on that era. That’s where Karl Schlogel’s Soviet Century: An Archeology of a Lost World comes in.

The premise of this book is simple and that’s to understand Soviet Russia from the perspective of an archeologist. Look at a certain object and tell its story. Sounds simple enough, and for the most part, Soviet Century is a simple book at its surface. But Schlogel digs deep and peels back the layers and transports us to a time when these objects had a function and discusses the impact they had on the Soviet citizen and what it meant for their livelihood. In this massive 900-page book, Schlogel discusses all kinds of objects and aspects of Soviet culture and ties them all together. Sometimes it’s as simple as wrapping paper, perfume, pianos, cookbooks, medals. Other times he’s discussing more complex things like the DniproHES hydroelectric plant, the Russian apartment and kitchen, crossing the border, the dachas, the cult of personality, and Siberia as a prison. Schlogel’s style is elegant, easy to follow and full of rich imagery, able to captivate the mind of the reader and offer some insight on what the lives of Soviet Russians was like and how the topic of discussion affected the hardship they were going under, because invariably, there was hardship. Some of these topics are more interesting than others, but more often than not, I found myself pleasantly surprised and engrossed in this book. The author is able to make even the most seemingly dull object interesting. That’s a testament of Schlogel’s skill as an analyst and storyteller.

Much more than a biography, Soviet Century is able to actually give the reader an idea of what common life was like in Soviet Russia. There is no doubt that Schlogel could have a written a book twice as long and I think I would have welcomed it. Perhaps a second volume is on its way. In any case, Soviet Century is a remarkable book that should be accessible to everyone. It brings the dead back to life in a detailed and colorful way. I felt transported and now it’s like I’m back from vacation. One of the best books I’ve read this year.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Soviet Century: Archaeology of a Lost World, by Karl Schlögel, is a magisterial look at the USSR from a perspective not often seen in modern fiction. It examines the "archaeology" of the former state; that is, the art, culture, daily life, architecture, and so forth of an empire. It examines so many amazing, intricate, and fascinating details of everyday life and the culture of the USSR. Culture in this sense is quite different to what we know in the capitalist world, but fascinating. There was no idealization of rich celebrities and nepo-children, or grifter capitalism, but an idealization of the working person. Medals were awarded for bravery in constructing massive, earth shattering industrial projects. Millions lived, and many died, on the scaffolds of great projects that are now rotting. Awards, and status, went not to the richest, but to the hardest working. But the value of individual life was not considered important, it was the completion of a project that was deemed of great import.

This book was fascinating, and opened my mind to a culture that is now largely extinct. I can see both the appeal, and the revolting aspects of it. The USSR was a place that both rejected inequality, and did not value individual human life. It was a place where things were both mundane and beautiful. Their is a whole section in this book on the signage marketplace of the USSR - the state owned stores that sold fish, chocolates, groceries, appliances, china and dinnerware. I can see myself shopping there, just as I trudge into the beacons of capitalism, where the profits of my labour are absorbed by the wealthy, and the lowest paid workers in our society flip me a burger in the hot, cramped kitchen for a wage that will not help them survive. The USSR used literal slavery to build their machines of greatness. We have as well, and continue to do so. This book is not an apologia for an empire. The USSR was brutal to its human population. But it did show me how inconsequential some of the differences between our modern world, and their world, are. There are many thousands who have died in the coltan mines of the DRC to get the minerals for the chips in our phones. There are folks chained to the production benches of garment factories to serve the needs of clothing companies that serve us. We do not know the meaning of hard work in the West, and if we do, we are not recognized for it. Work is not valued here, but it was the only King in the communist world. It blows my mind to see and feel how life would have been like in the USSR. There were so many horrors, and so many wonders, and that is also how I feel about our capitalist world.

I am going on and on here without describing this book. It is incredible, as a window into a lost world. As a museum of art, photos, medals, and everyday objects and experiences that we cannot experience. I am not sure I can recommend this book more highly. It has certainly expanded my horizons, and understanding of the world, human experience, and the ways we can connect with history. This is a masterpiece.

[Florian Lorenzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es gibt vereinzelte Bücher, die liegen bei mir über Jahre ungelesen im Regal, weil ich höchste Erwartungen an sie hege und ich mich sich nicht so richtig traut, diese mit der Realität zu konfrontieren. So jedenfalls erging es mir mit „Das sowjetische Jahrhundert. Archäologie einer untergegangenen Welt“, das seit 2020 bei mir im Regal steht und als Karl Schlögels Opus Magnum gilt. Wurde es meinen hohen Erwartungen gerecht?

Mit „Das sowjetische Jahrhundert“ legt Karl Schlögel eine ausführliche Kulturgeschichte der Sowjetunion und des Sowjetmenschen vor. Schlögel erkundet die untergegangene Lebenswelt der Sowjetunion und insbesondere jene Aspekte, die das Leben der Sowjetmenschen auf die eine oder andere Weise prägten. Eine äußerst breite Themenvielfalt wird hierbei an den Tag gelegt, so dass Phänomene wie Trödelmärkte, Botanik und Gewächshäusern, Körperkult, Strafgefangenenlager, Warteschlangen, Klavierbau oder Klingelschilder jeweils eigene Kapitel erhalten. Was auf den ersten Blick nicht so spannend klingen mag, ist im Einzelnen aber durchaus nicht uninteressant, auch wenn jetzt nicht jedes Unterkapitel auf den 850 Seiten zwingend zündet. Auch stilistisch weiß „Das sowjetische Jahrhundert“ zu überzeugen, denn Schlögels Schreibstil kommt für ein Geschichtsbuch unüblich kurzweilig und essayistisch daher.

Auch wenn mich das Buch insgesamt überzeugt hat, würde ich es nicht dem allerhöchsten Regal zuordnen. Denn zwei Aspekte haben mich gestört. Erstens ist „Das sowjetische Jahrhundert“ für meinen Geschmack zu russlandzentriert. Zweitens sind alle Kapitel recht eigenständig konzipiert, es gibt kaum Querverweise untereinander und es wird auch keine übergeordnete These entwickelt, wodurch das Werk den Charakter einer Essay-Sammlung erhält. Insofern würde ich mit anderen Kritiken darin übereinstimmen, dass es sich bei diesem Buch um eine Art Museumsbesuch der Sowjetunion handelt – allerdings hinzufügen, dass dieser Museumsbesuch nicht in einer kuratierten Ausstellung eingebettet ist.

Wer sich für dieses Thema interessiert, sollte aber dennoch zugreifen, denn mit einem ähnlich detailverliebten und abwechslungsreichen Werk ist bis auf weiteres nicht zu rechnen

Review bei Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9wmeUpuwPk

[Данило Судин · Rating 4 out of 5]

Радянський Союз не був просто державою, а радше способом життя. Проте минуло вже чверть століття від його розпаду, а тому і радянський стиль життя мав би зникнути. Але на думку Карла Шльоґеля, радянськість далі існує в Росії. І тому нам, людям ХХІ століття потрібно з археологічною ретельністю реконструювати радянську дійсність. І книга "Археологія комунізму" є своєрідним путівником для таких студій. Ласкаво запрошую до перегляду - за посиланням https://youtu.be/MlgtihrWz50

[Andrés Pertierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one of my favorite books of the year and definitely a great history I can see recommending for people looking for a social history of the USSR as it really was.

[Ryan Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not a conventionally structured history of the Soviet Union, but is rather more like a series of essays exploring many different aspects of life in the USSR. Topics include Soviet mega-projects (the Dneproges dam, the Belomor canal, the city of Magnitogorsk, the Palace of Soviets), artistic and architectural movements, Soviet atrocities like the Gulag and the Great Terror--but my favorite topics deal with more mundane aspects of everyday life in the Soviet Union. How were the conditions in the public bathrooms of the Soviet Union, or the stairwells of apartment complexes? How much garbage did Soviet citizens throw out, and how was it disposed of? What was it like to live with randomly assigned strangers in a communal apartment, or to then move into a concrete prefab Khrushchyovka? How much time did Soviet citizens spend waiting in line, and how did the Soviet state use these lines for intelligence gathering purposes? What happened to all the privately owned pianos after the Revolution? Why did the Bolsheviks have such a thing for palm trees?

Currently, this book is only available in German, but I expect an English translation to appear eventually. Recommended if you are a Soviet history buff, or if you have an interest in totalitarian regimes.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schlögels opus magnum. Was für ein Buch! Sowjetgeschichten, in denen die Politik Chrustschows derjenigen Stalins gegenübergestellt wird, gibt es viele. Aber wo kann man lesen, warum (bis heute) die Aufgänge in den Wohnblocks sowjetischer Bauart so verwahrlost sind, wie sie nun mal sind? Dass Schlögel historisches Wissen mit zeitgeschichtlichen und aktuellen Beobachtungen zu verbinden weiß, ist spätestens seit den "Promenaden von Jalta" klar. Dass er gut schreiben kann auch. Das über fast 900 Seiten durchgehalten zu haben, ist ein Leistung. Ein "Geschichtsbuch", das man von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite atemlos liest. Wo gibt es das (in Deutschland) noch? Und vor allem: Ein Buch, das nichts verschweigt, nichts beschönigt und doch nicht denunziert! Die Geschichte der sowjetischen Modernisierung wird beschrieben als das, was sie objektiv ist: Die andere Hälfte der Weltgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Man merkt auch, dass Schlögel das Land und seine Menschen liebt. Es gereicht dem Buch nicht zum Nachteil! Es sei all denen empfohlen, die von der UdSSR nur mal eben so aus dem "Spiegel" gehört haben; genauso aber sei es denen empfohlen, die Land und Leute kennen. Vieles, was man irgendwie wusste oder ahnte, wird durch die Lektüre klar. Dieses Buch ist also Aufklärung pur!

[Kostiantyn Levin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Прекрасний вступ до історії радянського повсякдення. До недоліків можна записати поверховість і фрагментарність, відсутність унікальної теми дослідження, що частково виправдовується форматом (це розширений варіант лекції 2013-го року). Серед переваг, передусім, численні посилання на тематичну літературу, з якої взято більшість матеріалів лекції, велика кількість згаданих феноменів радянського життя, легкий оповідний стиль.

Справді, політична історія СРСР вже давно складає величезний корпус літератури, а от пов��якденні практики, домашній побут, транспорт, відпочинок тощо – досліджені набагато менше, але саме цих досліджень хочеться найбільше, бо багато з цих щоденних практик і досі частково відтворюються.

[Олена Павлова · Rating 5 out of 5]

Цікаво було поглянути на звичні нам речі відсторонено. Це есей про антропологію та історію радянського побуту — інтригувало, що ж іноземців у ньому дивувало найбільше. Наче все знаєш, а так якось систематизує, наприклад, ніколи не задумувалася над пальмами у цих кабінетах, а це, виявляється, фішечка. Дуже цікаві посилання на інші книжки та наукові праці — наприклад, про роль горілки у російській політиці

[Matt Obenhaus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t some mere categorical fact laden survey of a book, but an immersive and philosophical experience that gets a Westerner as close as we can get to what it must have been like standing in a bread queue, living in a communal apartment, working in the new massive steel plant at Magnitogorsk, hearing the voice of Levitan on the loudspeaker announcing the Nazi invasion, gathering in a Moscow Kitchen to furtively discuss the latest dissident literature that a friend was able to get their hands on, witnessing the power, mystery, and bizarre spectacle of a Red Square parade, watching the Soviet state destroy hundreds of years old Orthodox Church bells, trying to locate a loved one who has disappeared into the Gulag system, and many other lived experiences in this most unique of awful experiments perpetrated on human souls: Communism and Totalitarianism.

In the final chapter, the author powerfully imagines a new era of the future in which the locus of power and evil, the Lubyanka, is transformed into a museum that captures the whole of the Soviet experience from decade to decade from floor to floor. A museum that across its labyrinthian layout recognizes the victims of Soviet oppression and terror. He closes the entire work with this fitting capstone quote from Aleksander Wat, a Pole who experienced firsthand the deprivations of the Lubyanka:

“Sometime before Easter we were taken up to the roof - I don't know why - it was the first time in daylight as well. Darkness was falling, dusk. But the sky and the air - the early spring easily overtook its victims there, for we were its victims. My feelings grew keener. I felt the early spring around me, and I could also hear music. They were playing Bach's St. Matthew Passion on the radio for Easter - can you imagine? It was just coming to an end, but it reached my section of the roof.... If the human voice, manmade instruments, and the human soul can create, even once in all of history, such harmony, beauty, truth, and power in such unity of inspiration - if this exists, then how ephemeral, what a nonentity all the might of empire must be.”

This is a remembrance that captures a transcendent experience in which good triumphs over evil, however long it takes. This is a day the world still awaits for Russia, and countries around it, to fully embrace and experience.

[Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karl Schlögel’s The Soviet Century is a time capsule of captivating cultural details and vivid accounts that reveal the societal turbulence and nightmarish conditions of the Soviet Union. Born in the former German Democratic Republic following World War II, Schlögel is a renowned German historian specializing in modern Russia and Eastern European history. In his latest book, which he subtitles an ‘archaeology of a lost world,’ Schlögel excavates sixty-nine years of artifacts and anecdotes in an effort to transport readers into a world unimaginable to those who never lived in it.

Structured as a musée imaginaire, The Soviet Century stimulates all five senses—depicting summer days at dachas, evoking the polluted air of industrial cities, decoding cryptic prison tattoos, and recounting the phenomenon of Krasnaya Moskva perfume—all working in unison to construct a Soviet metropolis rarely seen by Westerners. Each section functions like a kaleidoscope, every twist revealing a mesmerizing blend of personal accounts, statistical reporting, and vivid imagery that uncovers a different aspect of the former hegemon. The task of the reader is to digest these unraveled components, assess the ways in which they overlap, combine, and develop, in order to assemble a rough idea of Soviet society.

From the unprecedented construction of Magnitogorsk to the massive White Sea–Baltic Canal, the USSR transformed Russian society from a backward, largely agrarian country into an industrial powerhouse—condensing the century-long development of Western nations into a matter of five to ten years. Schlögel is keen to note that this unprecedented development came on the backs of hundreds of thousands of forced laborers, many of whom faced starvation and fatal working conditions. This commitment to technological victory at any cost reflects what Walter Benjamin called the “aestheticization of violence.” Beyond its industrial growth, Russia’s urban population skyrocketed from 26.3 million to 56.1 million in just thirteen years, prompting sweeping urban development policies—such as Kommunalkas (Коммуналки) and Khrushchevkas (Хрущёвки) —to mollify the housing crisis. However, these now-notorious structures, still scattered across the Eastern Bloc, crammed families into squalid living conditions.

Despite its vast scope, Schlögel’s attempt to tie every cultural feature directly to the nefarious acts of the political regime leaves glaring blind spots in an otherwise literary diorama of Soviet life. Key annual events—such as International Women’s Day and unique New Year’s traditions—as well as beloved bands like Кино, which rose to prominence during the eras of glasnost and perestroika, would have only enhanced the work. Nevertheless, Schlögel refrains from turning the work into an clichéd indictment of the Soviet Union or casting excessive moral blame in retrospect, wisely noting: “We can complain about the delusions of earlier generations, but they did what they could with the means available to them at the time, and with the expectations and hopes that fulfilled their lives. Whether we have truly surpassed them is unclear.”

Though daunting in size and panoramic in scope, The Soviet Century is remarkably readable and engrossing chapter after chapter. For Slavophiles and Westerners alike, it serves both as a historical exposé and a bewitching introduction to a culture unlike any other. Complemented by more than eighty illustrations, Schlögel serves as your travel guide into a collapsed world that has left an indelible impression not only on generations of Russians but also on the world as a whole.

[Dramatika · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful poignsnt book full of tender love to the country long lost. It is a country of my parents and the generations before them , but also mine as I was born in the end of USSR era.

[Dmitry · Rating 2 out of 5]

(The English review is placed beneath the Russian one)

Достаточно необычная книга, которая не ориентирована на широкую аудиторию. Возможно даже, что книга под (особое) настроение. Нужно очень сильно интересоваться Советским Союзом, чтобы прочитать книгу целиком. У меня сил на это не хватило, и я прочитал лишь чуть меньше половины книги. В принципе, идея мне понятна, однако рассматриваемая тема меня не сильно заинтересовала. Возможно дело в том, что я сам родился в СССР и поэтому у меня нет большого интереса ни к тому какие тату были у заключённых в СССР и что они обозначали, ни к советским коммунальным квартирам, ни к советским туристическим курортам, ни к истории города Магнитогорск, ни к теме духов «Красная Москва». Другими словами, история отдельных элементов СССР меня не сильно интересует. Не знаю сознательно или случайно, но какую бы тему не брал автор, всегда это в итоге пересекалось с темой советского террора по отношению к своим же гражданам. Но это не главное в этой книге, разумеется. Главным является реконструирование советской действительности или советской жизни с помощью рассказа о (разных) бытовых и социальных элементах советской действительности. Подобно мозаики, автор рассказывает одну историю за другой, постепенно давая читателям представление о том, как жили простые люди в СССР. Хотя, я тут сильно польстил автору и наверно преувеличил.

Стоит отметить, что в книге практически не фигурирует большая политика, КПСС, партийные руководители и пр. Автор фокусируется на бытовых и социальных вопросах, как например внутренний рекреационный туризм под которым чаще всего имеется в виду отдых в Сочи и Крыму. Или вот другой пример/тема из книги – дача. Что означала дача для советского человека и как она появилась. Как видим, это довольно нестандартно для автора рассматривать такие не политические темы. Конечно, в СССР часто всё было так или иначе связано с политикой, в том смысле, что с самого детства КПСС начинало вмешиваться в жизнь советского человека. Но в книге нет явных политических тем. Скорее все не политические темы рано или поздно пересекаются с политическими, как например тема советских коммуналок, которые появились в результате экспроприации многоквартирной собственности у старых хозяев, т.е. у аристократии, помещиков, купцов, и пр.

Учитывая тот факт, что книга является сборником несвязанных между собой тем, нужно отметить, что такой подход не всем понравится. Многие темы в книге очень короткие и очень поверхностные, которые практически сразу забываются, если для читателя тема не является важной. Да и в целом, возникает ощущение, что книга представляет из себя блог человека несколько лет прожившего в России (или в СССР) и собиравшего информацию о разных элементах жизни в СССР. Т.е. книга не похожа на научное исследование, а именно что на блог. Да, некоторые темы исследованы автором достаточно глубоко, но другие очень поверхностны. Мне кажется, автор зря включил так много тем в свою книгу. Мне кажется, было бы намного лучше, если бы он ограничился бы лишь несколькими темами. Просто из-за множества рассматриваемых тем получается какая-то каша в голове. Что получит читатель после прочтения такой книги? Появится ли у него понимание того, как жили люди в СССР? Я вот так не думаю. И ещё. Все вопросы, которые затрагивает автор, очень малозначительные, в том смысле, что они мало что значили. Кто-то жил в коммунальных квартирах, а кто-то нет. Это мало что определяло. Это как американцы, которые живут в многоквартирных квартирах в городах и американцы, которые живут за городом в собственных домах. Что тут такого важного? Ну да, кто-то живёт так, а кто-то по-другому, но что это меня��т? Сильно ли это значимо для понимания американского общества? Не думаю. Вот то же самое и тут. Ну да, некоторые люди жили в общежитиях, но это мало или даже никак не влияло на их мировосприятие. Намного значительней была музыка, кино, литература. Тюремные тату тем более не играли роли в СССР - об этом знали только сами заключённые. Я хочу сказать, что автор взял такие темы, которые не являются значимыми в понимании, как Советского Союза, так и жизни граждан в СССР. Это интересно, как интересно читать туристический путеводитель или блог путешественника, но с точки зрения исторической работы, это очень слабая книга.

И последнее. Возможно, целью авторы и не была попытка рассказать о быте советского гражданина. Возможно, главной идеей авторы было то, что всё в СССР, т.е. вся общественная жизнь, общественные и социальные вопросы так или иначе все сходились в точке репрессий. Практически во всех темах автор сводит к истории репрессивных практик. Может тут нужно искать истинный смысл книги? Но тогда для этого нужно было написать более серьёзную работу, конечно.

A rather unusual book that is not aimed at a general audience. Perhaps even a book for a special mood. You have to be very interested in the Soviet Union to read the whole book. I didn't have the energy for that, and I only read a little less than half of the book. In principle, the idea is clear to me, but the topic did not interest me much. Perhaps the point is that I was born in the USSR and, therefore, I have no great interest neither in what tattoos prisoners had in the USSR and what they meant, nor in Soviet communal apartments, nor Soviet tourist resorts, nor the history of the city of Magnitogorsk, nor the theme of perfume “Red Moscow”. In other words, the history of certain elements of the USSR doesn't interest me much. I don't know whether deliberately or accidentally, but whatever topic the author takes up, it always ends up intersecting with the topic of Soviet terror towards its own citizens. But that is not the main thing in this book, of course. The main thing is the reconstruction of Soviet reality or Soviet life by means of a story about (different) everyday and social elements of Soviet reality. Like a mosaic, the author tells one story after another, gradually giving readers an idea of how ordinary people lived in the USSR. Although I flattered the author a lot here and probably exaggerated.

It is worth noting that the book does not include big politics, the CPSU, party leaders, etc. The author focuses on domestic and social issues, such as domestic recreational tourism, which most often refers to vacations in Sochi and the Crimea. The author focuses on domestic and social issues such as domestic recreational tourism, which most often means recreation in Sochi and Crimea. Or here is another example/topic from the book - dacha. What dacha meant to a Soviet person, and how it appeared. As we can see, it is quite unconventional for the author to address such non-political topics. Of course, everything in the USSR was often connected to politics in one way or another, in the sense that from childhood the CPSU began to interfere in the life of a Soviet person. But there are no overtly political themes in the book. Rather, all non-political themes sooner or later intersect with political ones, such as the Soviet communal houses, which appeared as a result of the expropriation of apartment property from the old owners, i.e., the aristocracy, landlords, merchants, and so on.

Given the fact that the book is a collection of unrelated topics, it should be noted that this approach will not appeal to everyone. Many of the topics in the book are very short and superficial, which are almost immediately forgotten if the topic is not important to the reader. In general, the book feels like a blog of a person who lived in Russia (or in the USSR) for several years and collected information about different elements of life in the USSR. I.e., the book does not look like a scientific study, but a blog. Yes, some topics are researched by the author in depth, but others are very superficial. I think the author was wrong to include so many topics in his book. I think it would have been much better if he had limited himself to just a few topics. It's just that the multitude of topics covered makes for a mess of a book. What will the reader get after reading such a book? Will he get an understanding of how people lived in the USSR? I don't think so. Also, all the issues the author touches on are very minor, in the sense that they didn't mean much. Some lived in communal apartments and some didn't. It didn't determine much. It's like Americans who live in apartment buildings in cities and Americans who live outside the city in their own homes. What's the big deal? Well, yes, some live that way and some live differently, but what does that change? Does it make much difference in understanding American society? I don't think so. It's the same here. Well, yes, some people lived in dormitories, but this had little or no effect on their worldview. Music, movies, and literature were much more important. Prison tattoos played no role in the USSR - only the prisoners themselves knew about them. I want to say that the author has taken such topics that are not significant in understanding both the Soviet Union and the life of citizens in the USSR. It is interesting, as it is interesting to read a tourist guide or a travel blog, but in terms of historical work, it is a very weak book.

One last thing. Perhaps the aim of the authors was not to tell about the life of a Soviet citizen. Perhaps the author's main idea was that everything in the USSR, i.e., all social life, public and social issues, converged in one way or another at the point of repression. In almost all topics, the author boils it down to a history of repressive practices. Maybe the true meaning of the book should be sought here? But then that would have required a more serious piece of writing, of course.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Monumental, magnificent and oh so sad.

[Zoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

read of the year, incredibly informative and insightful

[Patrick Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute masterpiece!

[Paul Reef · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read

[Milios Dimitris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed by Karl Schlögel’s The Soviet Century.
Although its subject is clearly fascinating, the book often gets lost in numerous insignificant details of Soviet life.
From time to time, some chapters shine like true gems, where you actually glimpse essential aspects of everyday life.

There is no doubt that Soviet socialism was an interesting but ultimately failed experiment in building a society of justice and equality.
My main objection to the book is that it is permeated throughout by a subjective negativity and anti-communism toward the entire experiment.
Nothing positive is acknowledged—only misery and terror.

But where is the remarkable health care system free of charge,the early revolutionary sexual liberation (later replaced by the dominance of the nuclear family and suppression of difference), the green cities with vast parks, the emancipation of women, the high scientific level at least until the 1960s, and the guarantee of housing for all?
“Education was made accessible to everyone free , with high standards of learning in the educational institutions

[Willy Marz Thiessam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karl Schlögel provides us with a literary masterpiece of nostalgia, not only for lost civilization but also for his own life that was so intertwined in its decline. As a historian Schlögel was enmeshed in the world of the dissident history of the Soviet Union, and he was as much a part of that world he was a critique of.

He made friends with Soviet Dissidents and lived a very deeply entwined life with their lives as he studied the Soviet Union and its history. This man not only knew the tragedies but also the triumphs and beauty and humanity that was in the lives of Soviet people. All of that is gone in the wake of a terrible shocking disaster that was the fall of the Soviet Union.

Its like reading the works of a Roman author, like Juvenal or Tacitus, decrying the follies and crimes of an Empire they so are extricable a part of. The criticism and cynicism in the dissident view of the Soviet Union, within the Soviet Union was also one of the great achievements of the Soviet Union.

Schlögel takes us on a 900 page journey throughout the Soviet Union and its history and his history as a historian researching that history while it was alive and in its fall. Its beautiful and sentimental, particularly when he talks about places, the art and its incredible people that he knew so intimately. Homo Sovieticus was as playful as it was serious.

This is a glorious bitter sweet homage to the tragi-comedy that was so much a part of the Soviet Union. From one of its enemies we find heartfelt sentiment of beauty and kindness of a life lived intertwined with the fate of that civilization.

Its such a pity its only in German at the moment as so many including Russians would find this a beautiful work of literature. But the quality of the German prose is also profound and you will not want to skip any part of it when you start reading it.

Well done Herr Schlögel!

[Marks54 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to follow.

This is a wonderful book about the Soviet during the course of its long life. It is told in dozens of short chapters that look back at key aspects and images of the USSR and how they morphed during the 20th century. Each chapter is rich. Together they astonish. What about the whole book? I have to process more. …stay tuned.

[John Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy this now. Or get it at your local library. You need to read this monumental work of Sovietology. It covers everything from communal apartments to Lenin's tomb. If you don't know anything about Soviet Russia this is a great place to start. If you've been reading Conquest, Reed, and Lewin this is the capstone of historical works on the USSR and you need to read it today.

[Christel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein Kaleidoskop, ein Meisterwerk

[VYacheslav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Радянське суспільство не загинуло в 1991 році, воно продовжує існувати навколо нас і в нас, існує як нашарування, яке вже достатньо припало пилом, щоб розпочати археологічні розкопки.

[Austin Barselau · Rating 3 out of 5]

A literary behemoth that befits the transcontinental confederation it captures, The Soviet Century wistfully catalogs the cultural artifacts of a vanished empire. With 60 eclectic vignettes, author Karl Schlögel, a German historian of Eastern Europe and professor emeritus at European University Viadrina (Frankfurt/Oder) exhibits both the eccentric and banal aspects of the Soviet zeitgeist – from communal apartments, parades on Red Square, public toilets, queues, bazaars, architectural marvels, cookbooks, forbidden literature, and so much more. In this archaeological excavation, Schlögel sets about “uncovering objects, rescuing them, and making them speak” to show that the Soviet Union was not merely a political system, but more importantly “a form of life with its own history, maturity, decline, and fall.” Schlögel’s dig for history captures the arc of Soviet history from its rise and fall – from the idealism of its revolutionary beginnings, the trauma from the Stalinist years, the rehabilitation that followed the Great Patriotic War, and the waves of urbanization, consumerism, socialization, and yearning for normality during the postwar opening and liberalization.

As a limitation, Schlögel’s impressions of the Homo Sovieticus are constrained by his limited experience of life within the corners of the Soviet empire, appearing to have lived most of his life in the former West Germany. Schlögel’s individual studies are shaped by his own travel experiences, with little in the way of personal memories or experiences that would reveal a more organic interaction with the subject matter. Thus, the book functions as a first-person chronicle filtered through an observant third-person lens; this depersonalization prevents readers from understanding how and when these experiences shaped the author’s Weltanschauung. Schlögel’s observances are also heavily oriented to Russia, with less attention to the equally important fringes of the Soviet Union. This likewise deprives the reader of a fuller understanding of the rich complexion of experiences under the Soviet project. Stylistically, the narrative is desultory and temporally nonlinear, as the author flits between different episodes without a cohesive story arch. The writing style ironically mirrors that of its focal topic – a sprawling historical phenomenon that evades orderly categorization and teleological consistency. The Soviet Century is also akin to its self-described methodology: an archaeological excavation, which embarks with only the anticipation of uncertain discovery, chance encounter, and surprise.

[Viral · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.

I was excited to read this book because I love learning about life in the Soviet Union. I think it was a fascinating period of modern history that is often portrayed with caricatures and the premise of this book felt novel to me: approach the Soviet Union like a fallen civilization, and explore different facets of life within it to show what everyday life was like for normal citizens.

Unfortunately, while the book is called "The Soviet Century", it could more appropriately be called "Moscow/Leningrad from 1917-1960", because the overwhelming majority of the books contents pertained to life in those cities during that time. While there was a lot of interesting things to discuss (artwork, propaganda, news, clothing, music, education, public works projects, holidays, vacations, etc) the focus on the stories of ethnic Russians in the two biggest cities really diminished from this book's reach. I wish more attention had been paid to life in the Caucasus, in Central Asia, and in smaller cities in the RSFSR like Murmansk, Samara, Astrakhan, and Rostov-on-Don. Also, the ideological disdain Schlogel has for the left is obvious, but at times it causes him to read the most negative possible interpretation out of every single issue. He refuses to acknowledge that, flaws and all, millions of people believed in the USSR's mission and many people dedicated their lives to the original promise of the Revolution.

Also, I kinda feel like the son of a Wehrmacht soldier should show a little more humility to the people his father's generation tried to exterminate off the face of the Earth, but that's just me.

An interesting book, I did learn quite a lot, but not as comprehensive of a read as I would have imagined (given how massive the book is).

[Cristóbal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una “arqueología de un mundo perdido” es el mejor resumen que puede hacerse del libro. Es ese propiamente el objetivo del autor. Como toda arqueología, el autor investiga desde distintos ángulos, penetrando en objetos y situaciones diversas, tratando de personajes conocidos y desconocidos, pero obviamente sin llegar a agotar el tema del que se habla, sino dando algunas pinceladas de distintos aspectos del mundo soviético.

El libro es interesante tanto como primera aproximación a lo que fue la Unión Soviética desde un punto de vista más “informal” (aspectos de la vida cotidiana, anécdotas vitales, personajes con nombre y sin nombre, etc.), como para profundizar en aspectos no siempre tratados del universo soviético por libros más académicos, más centrados en la vertiente económica, histórica o política.
Es una obra amena, interesante por todo lo que tiene de descubrimiento de un mundo diferente y ya perdido, e intensa en la narración de la radicalidad de los desarrollos históricos, sociales y políticos que ocurrieron en un periodo relativamente corta de tiempo.

El autor enriquece la narración gracias a su propia experiencia del universo soviético, desde una posición externa pero conocedora del sistema. Ello no supone una admiración ciega a lo que la Unión Soviética “realmente fue”, sino todo lo contrario: el autor expone sin esconder y analiza críticamente, desde posiciones humanistas, ese mundo ya perdido, pero que tuvo un gran impacto tanto para los de dentro de forma directa, como para los de fuera de forma indirecta. Ese es realmente el hilo conductor que atraviesa toda la obra: mostrar un mundo perdido desde la perspectiva de aquellos que lo vivieron.

[Legens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold to write this 900-page brick... and make it a collection of essays (over 70 in total). But Schlögel pulls it off. His "archaeology" is a mosaic of aspects of Soviet life, from the grand industrial projects over small everyday items to the rather immaterial (like perfume). Not every chapter is perfect, but Schlögel's floor is consistently very high. And his associative, essayistic prose is a delight to read.

Among the best chapters:
- DniproHES, Magnitogorsk, White Sea-Baltic Canal: forced industrialization projects on a gigantic scale. Impressive engineering and ideological enthusiasm pair with an utter disregard for human life... and often, with the realization that bigger is not always better.
- Kommunalka: The Soviet communal apartment as the key to attitudes to life - a mixture of anonymity and forcibly shared privacy.
- Moscow kitchens: The pinnacle of Soviet free thought in the 1960s and onwards.
- The queue: The failure of the Soviet economic system embodied in its wasteful allocation of resources to private individuals. (I would have liked to see a complementing chapter on the Soviet underground economy/black markets, without which the understanding of the Soviet economy - and post-Soviet attitudes to the economy - cannot be understood.)
- George Costakis: Shifting attitudes to Russian avantgarde art, embedded in the delicacies of foreign citizenship and embassy work.

[Sanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

+900 de pagini

Fiecare capitol e o călătorie fascinantă: poliție secretă, artă, revoluție, mega șantiere (Magnitogorsk și altele) închisori/gropi comune, natură schimbată/modelată/distrusă fără limite, inginerie de vârf cu prețul a mii de vieți, educația foștilor țărani mutați forțat în orașe muncitorești/industriale, cum erau locuințele, prietenia cu americanii în primii ani staliniști când au avut nevoie de ingineri/tehnică/educație, cum se trăia în orașele create artificial cu popi, hoți, prostituate, intelectuali și criminali condamnați la muncă silnică, cum se mânca și primele cărți care i-au învățat un minim de civilizație, cum au trecut de la refolosit sticla și hârtia maro de împachetat la a arunca peste tot gunoi și plastic…sărmanele păduri, râuri, lacuri🥲*inclusiv în orașe aveau gropi cu deșeuri nucleare…cum pe rând toți care deveneau “elite” și torționari temporari cădeau după o perioadă și-și găseau sfârșitul în urma unor procese ridicole🤦🏻‍♀️

Superb scrisă, vezi și trăiești cartea & nu poți să nu faci o paralelă intre comunismul idiot/imposibil aplicat și la noi🥲

Complicată existență, chinuite popoare în tot fostul imperiu rusesc - milioane de morți pe altarul ego-urilor și al ideologiilor paranoice.
Complicată și fascinantă istorie!

[Benji · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Aleksander Wat recollects one such circuit on the roof of the Lubyanka.

Sometimes before Easter we were taken up to the roof-I don't know why-it was the first time in daylight as well. Darkness was falling, dusk. But the sky and the air-the early spring easily overtook its victims there, for we were its victims. My feelings grew keener. I felt the early spring around me, and I could also hear music. They were playing Bach's St. Matthew Passion on the radio for Easter-can you imagine? It was just coming to an end, but it reached my section of the roof ... If the human voice, manmade instruments, and the human soul can create, even once in all of history, such harmony, beauty, truth, and power in such unity of inspiration-if this exists, then how ephemeral, what a nonentity all the might of empire must be.'

[Viktor Burenkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

В книзі автор намагається розкрити радянське повсякдення через показ маркерів епохи: черга, комуналка, бабусі під під'їздом, дефіцит і т.п. Змістовне наповнення та пояснення кожного з виділених маркерів не завжди є точним, а іноді взагалі дивним. Таким дивним витлумаченням є "оббивка дверей" у кабінетах радянських чиновників та у квартирах радянських людей. Найбільш цікавими і глибокими, як на мене, в плані пояснення та опису "радянського" є не авторські розмірковування над темою, а цитати з Алексієвич, Кабакова, Бродського та ін.